Peter -n- Melodye

Tonight is Tuesday night. That's one of the 2 evenings each week when I go up to my team-mate Dave's house and we walk through his neighborhood, praying as we walk and searching for opportunities to share the Gospel. Tonight as I was riding my bike and almost to Dave's house I passed a guy I met last week. He had made a profession of faith months before but then seemed to lose interest. Last week he seemed more interested and it seems like God orchestrated several events for us to meet together tonight. This young man is bored and restless and unemployed. Are his motives to meet with us in hopes of some financial gain or is he really re-interested? Only God knows, but we were happy to go and drink a coffee. He took us to a coffee bar that he recommended. And then he did something that is very rare in Albania -- he deliberately took us back in among some trees at the back of the property so we could sit alone in peace and quiet. It was a delightful setting for an equ...

Last Thursday night I spent the evening sitting outside in a pretty run-down courtyard talking with 2 families. As the evening wore on more and more members of the family showed up. Someone came home with a cart powered by a motorcycle -- he gathers iron in my neighborhood to get paid a few cents per kilo for recycling. Then the older daughter came home with the baby -- they had been out begging. It went on for some time as there were several children. Their house itself is very shoddily constructed, but they are in the process of improving it as they are able. Last Thursday night they found some pieces of molding that were thrown out and they were "papering" (plastic'ing?) their walls to provide some insulation for the winter. Something is better than nothing. What was I doing? We went to visit the neighbor who has a cut on his foot and is diabetic. My team-mate had taken him to visit the health center a few days before and we were coming back to see how he was. ...

Here are some pictures from our recent travels: Our rafting trip to Bosnia/Montenegro (River Tara) Our trip on the Komani Ferry with some extras thrown in

EDIT 8/28/2010: Melodye pointed out that I was so expressive of my dislike for the late/loud music that it made it sound like I didn't like the trip. I've moderated my comments below to give a more accurate picture and just reiterate that I had a *great* time! We got together a group of friends last weekend and headed north. We left in the early afternoon and traveled about 5 hours to the border between Montenegro and Bosnia. Just past there we turned in DMD camp. We rafted about 4 hours on the Tara River (deepest gorge in Europe) the next day (Saturday) and then on Sunday some of our group left after breakfast and others of us stayed on to raft the River Drin for another 4 hours before we left to arrive home in Albania late Sunday night. With all meals, 2 nights accommodations (albeit in somewhat primitive conditions), and rafting the cost was 70 euros per person for those who left early (5 meals, 2 nights, 4 hours rafting) and 90 euros per person for those who stayed late...

I have a friend who is employed elsewhere and works as a volunteer in a non-profit foundation here in Albania. He is the director and administrator of the foundation, but he receives no (zero, zip, nada) reimbursement from said foundation. Not even expenses -- in fact he often makes donations to the foundation himself from his own pocket because he believes in what the foundation is doing. Recently said foundation was fined nearly $20,000 dollars in back taxes and fines. But the foundation is scrupulous in their compliance with the law and above reproach in the way they relate to the government. HOW COULD THIS BE?! Well, it turns out the tax office is insisting that a foundation pay taxes and social security for a paid director/administrator, paid at a rate (minimally) that would cripple many not-for-profit foundations in this country. (Who comes up with a minimum wage nearly 3x the wage paid to any govt employee, including doctors & teachers & etc, anyway?! It only hurts ...

Yesterday we did the Komani ferry. Pretty shocking that we've been in Albania for 12 years and this is the first time we've ever done this. INCREDIBLY BEAUTIFUL! If you're considering doing it, here's the info about what we did to help you make your decisions: We left Tirana at 5am and arrived there about 7:30 with virtually no traffic. We did this because we were told you had to arrive at least 2 hours ahead of time to secure your spot on the ferry. NOT TRUE!!! The ferry holds at least 40 vehicles (50-60 might be a better estimate) and various people on the ferry told me that they never have to leave anyone. Some people called saying they were on their way and so the ferry waited until 10:30 instead of 9:30 to leave. If you leave Tirana later (as I would recommend) remember that our 2.5 hour trip was with no traffic. The later you leave the more traffic you will encounter. Nuff said. The earlier you get there the further back you are in line, apparently. Altho...